Musical notation.



No. 733,351. f I PATENTEDJULY 7,1903.

' L-. H. BESWIGK.

MUSICAL NOTATION. i

APPLICATION rum) DEC. 10, 1900.

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NITED STATES Patented. July '7, 1903.

Farmer FFICE.

MUSlCAL NOTATION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,851, dated July 7,1903.

Application filed December 10, 1900. Serial No. 39,344. (No model.)

. T at whom it may concern:

clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to musical notation that is to say, to the art ofdesignating musical tones by characters or symbols and to the system ofcharacters, symbols, or sounds by which such tones can be designated.

The feature toward which the invention is particularly directed is thedesignation of the duration or time length of tones or pauses.

Prominent objects of the invention are to make possible the indicationand use of certain tone lengths and pauses not at present employed inthe rendering and noting of music; to facilitate the designation ofother tone lengths at present so employed; to provide simple, effective,and practical means for designating such tone lengths and pauses; tosecure certain novel, desirable, and striking effects in both vocal andinstrumental music not possible to attain under the system of notationat present in use, and to arrange for the better, in fact, for thesubstantially perfect adaptation of music to words in vocal music.

My improved system of musical notation is based upon the division of athird of a whole tone into even divisional parts, so that the systemembraces notes and rests or of course other suitable characters orsymbols repre-' senting tones or'silences one-third, one-sixth,one-twelfth, one twenty-fourth, one fortyeighth, or like divisional partof a whole tone in length. The notes and rests or other fittingcharacters or symbols of my notation designate their respective tonesand silences individuallythat is to say, each note or rest indicates thelength or duration of the tone or silence by itself without any furtherassociated symbol or symbols in the music-score. In this way I permitthe incorporation in music-scores and works of characters or symbolsdesignating tone lengths and pauses of the kind I have specified, and soallow their .wardly from the head.

general and extensive use in the rendition of music. I also facilitateand simplify the designation of tone lengths of this character, so thatthere is no difiiculty or hindrance to their employment. l urthermore, Ipermit their combination with notes of the present musical system in anydesired way, so that notes and rests indicating thirds, sixths,twelfths, and like divisional parts of awhole tone can be associated inany way desired with notes and rests indicating halves, quarters,eighths, and like divisional parts of a whole tone. The association orcombination of these two sets of notes, or, in other words, thecombination of the notes of my system with those of the present system,produces novel and striking results whose number and variety areunlimited and Whose utility is unquestioned. Certain of these advantagesand results will be pointed out fully hereinafter after reference hasbeen made to the drawing for an understanding of the invention more indetail.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a View illustrating thepreferred style of character or symbol for indicating tone lengths ofthe kind hereinbefore specified. Fig. 2 is a view of the preferred formof rests. Fig. 3 is an instrumental composition adapted especially forthe violin, in which my improved musical notation is shown combined withthe musical notation now in general use. Fig. t is a vocal compositionhaving notes of the two systems combined. Fig. 5 is a view of acomposition, showing the combination of the two sets or systems of notesin a way different from the mannerin which the same are combined in thecomposition shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

I could of course employ for designating the tone lengths and pauses ofmy system of notation any suitable or desired form of charactor orsymbol. As a preferred arrangement, however-,1 employ a form or stylesimilar in general arrangement to the notes of the musical system now incommon use--that is to say, notes having a head and a verticallyarrangedstem extending upwardly or down- The employment of notes similar tothose now in common use has the advantage of being simple and practical,while at the same time it gives a composition in which the two systemsof notation are employed a uniform appearance. In such case that is tosay, when notes similar to the notes of the present system are employedIprovide the stems with dots instead of with the flags or hooks of thenotes of the common system, the number of dots upon the stem indieating,as in the present system, the time length of the tone or pause.

Referring to Fig. 1, 0b is a third note, consisting of an open head anda stem having a dot at the-end, this third note being in form ahalf-note of the present system, with a dot at the end of the stem.- Thesixth note I) similarly consists of a solid head and a stem having asingle dot at its end, this being similar to a quarter-note with a doton the end of its stem. In a similar manner 0, consisting of a solidhead, a stem, and two dots placed on the stem, designates a twelfthnote; d, consisting of a solid head and a stem having three dots, atwenty-fourth note; and 6, consisting of a solid head and a stem havingfour dots, a forty-eighth note. If desired, the dots of the forty-eighthnote instead of being arranged in vertical order, as shown in the note6, can be arranged in the form of asquare, as shown in the note 6.

In Fig. 2 are illustrated rests adapted to designate the pauses of mysystem. These consist of lines having one or more dots, the character ornumber of the dots indicating the duration of the pause. The rest f,consistiug of a line with an open dot or circle, is a third rest; therest g, consisting of a line and a single solid dot, is a sixth rest;the rest 72., consisting of a line and two solid dots, is a twelfthrest. In like manner the rests and 7c are twenty-fourth and forty-eighthrests. If desired, the dots of the forty-eighth rest can be arranged asshown in the rest 7r instead of as shown in the rest 71?.

In Fig. 3 is illustrated a musical composition containing notes ofmyimproved system, in combination with notes of the nowcommonly-employed system. This composition is intended particularly-forthe violin. In this composition it will be seen that twelfth andtwenty-fourth notes particularly are employed in combination withordinary eighth notes. The rhythmic effect secured by the twelfth andtwenty-fourth notes is different from that of the eighth notes, andconsequently I secure an entirely novel result in rhythm. The twelfthnote is of course but two-thirds of the time length of the eighth note,and the twenty-fourth is but one-half the time length of the twelfth.The twelfth and twenty-fourth together occupy the same time as one ofthe eighth notes. Therefore the twelfth and twenty-fourth produce aneffect of two different tones, one twice as long as the other and thetwo tones together being as long as one of the other notes employed inthe composition.

In Fig. 4 is illustrated a vocal musical composition in which, it willbe seen, the music is particularly adapted to the words. For instance,the word I is given an eighth note; the word sigh a sixth note,somewhatlonger than an eighth note. The word .as, being quite short, is given atwelfth note. Again, the word I is given an eighth, the word sing asixth, somwhat longer than an eighth, and so on. In this way the lengthof the various words and syllables is accommodated fully by the notes ofmy system and those of the com monly-em ployed system.

In Fig. 5 are illustrated certain other uses of my invention. In thisfigure I have shown the shorter note employed before the longer one-thatis to say, in the first measure, for

instance, a twelfth note is situated before a sixth note-whereas in thecompositions Figs. 3 and 4 the shorter note has been situated after thelonger note. In the third measure is shown a sixth note associated witha third note, the former having a time length just one-half of thelatter and the two together having the same length as the twoquarternotes of the preceding measure. In the sixth measure are shownsixth and twelfth notes arranged on opposite sides of the quarter-note,it being obvious from this arrangement that the various notes of thesystem can be disposed inany way whatsoever with reference to othernotes of either my system or the systen1- now commonly used. In theseventh measure is shown the same arrangement of sixth and twelfth noteson opposite sides of a quarter-note, the twelfth note being before thequarter-note in this measure.

From the foregoing the following general advantages can be seen: First,new rhythms can be obtained in both vocal and instrumental music. Underthe old system, the notes being halves, quarters, eighths, and so on,the time lengths of the tones had to bear the relation of one to two andone to four, and so on. In other'words, every tone had to be either aneven divisional part or an even multiple of every other tone.Consequently, the only efiects that could be secured were the doublingor halving of time lengths. By my system, however, tones having theratio of two to three, three to four, and so on, are introduced, and anentirely novel rhythm is thereby produced. I have shown, for instance,that the composition shown in Fig. 3 when played gives a strikingsparkling effeet which is very pleasing and has been heretofore unknown.

Again, my system allows the thorough adaptation of music to words invocal music. This is well shown by reference to Fig. 4. The very shortwords, such as a, the, is, &c., should not properly be given the sametime length as ordinary one-syllable wordssuch, for example, as shore,sway, the, and yet they are entitled to more than one-half of the timelength given the latter. Under the old notation they would have to begiven either one or the other-thatis to say, either the same length oronly one half of that time length. In the phrase the shore, forinstance, if the word the were given an eighth note the word shore wouldhave to be given either an eighth or a quarter or even a longer note. Inthe former instance the two words each having eighth notes would eachhave to be given the same length of time, which would be either too longfor the the or too short for the shore. In the latter instance the thehaving an eighth and the shore a quarter the former would have butonehalf the length of the latter, which would be either too'short forthe the or too long for the shore. In my notation, however, the thecould be givena sixth and the shore a quarter, for example, in whichcase the the would be given only two thirds as much time as the shore.This is about the relative time length the two words would naturally begiven in expressing them. The same principle can be applied throughoutthe entire list of words and syllables. Each one can be given its propertime value relatively to the others, and thus vocalization will beperfectly smooth and natural. This system not only permits theacquisition of novel effects in rhythm, but also in vocal music allowsthe adaptation of music to words and thereby permits correctinterpretation and assists in correct enunciation and expression. Again,my system of notation permits and promotes natural expression. As aninstance, when a series of sixnotes, each of the same length, are beingsung, the voice naturally gives the first one in each beat a lengthslightly longer than its proper length and the second one aslightly-shorter lengththat is to say, the first and fourth will begiven a time. length slightly greater than their proper length and thesecond and fifth a length slightly shorter. This natural expression isvery pleasing and desirable and relieves the monotony of six tonelengths exactly alike; but under the old system there was no way ofindicatingit,and so, even though the composer intended it to be sung inthat way, he could not so express it, but would have to depend upon eachmusician giving it that way by instinct or not having it given that'wayat all. By my system the first and fourth notes can be made slightlylonger and the second and fifth slightly shorter, as desired. Ina seriesformerly consisting of six eighth notes I can make the'first and fourthnotes sixths, the second and fifth twelfths, and leave the third andsixth eighths. In this way the first and fourth have the desired slightincrease i n time,

the second and fifth the slight decrease, and the natural expression isthereby secured. Another example of this natural expression is in waltzmusic, where naturally the three notes of each measure, although alike,are unconsciously rendered as though the first were longer and thesecond shorter than the third.

In the way just mentioned in connection with the series of six likenotes I can designate this natural time value in waltz music. Doubtlessmany other'advantages in the use of my system will manifest themselvesas the System becomes better known and developed.

In my notation it will be observed that each of the notes and restsdesignates its tone or pause length individually-that is to say, byitself alonewithout reference to any associated symbol or character inthe score. In

this the notation differs from the triplet, for

in the triplet the time length of the notes or notes and rests composingthe triplet is indicated by the entire structure-that is'to say, by thethree notes or one or more notes and rests, the slur joining the threetogether and the numerals 3 arranged above or below the slur. Among theresults secured by this difference are facility and convenience innotation and ease in reading the music, the possibility which my systemaffords of separating the various notes from one another and thuspermitting their combination in any desired way with other notes ofeither my system or the old system, and the possibility which itlikewise affords of employing any desired number of notes. Regarding thefirst of these features-namely, convenience of notation and ease ofreadingit is obvious that the writing of notes each standing by itselffora given tone length or pause is more easy than the arrangement of anumber of symbols to secure a tone length or pause and that it is alsoeasier to read such an individual note than a plurality of symbols.Regarding the second feature, it will be observed that in the tripletall three notes must remain together. By the nature of thecombination-symbol the slur ties the three notes together, and thenumeral 3 indicates that the three are to be played together. It,therefore, is impossible to separate one from the other two or toseparate all three from one another. Consequently, if it is desired toarrange one of the triplet notes on one side of a note of differentcharacter and the other two on the other side of that note this isimpossible by the triplet. In my system, however, this can be readilydone, as well shown in the sixth and seventh measures of the compositionshown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. Regarding the third of these featuresit will be seen that only three or six or nine or like number oftripletnotes can be employed. This must follow from the fact that thetriplet provides for only three notes or multiples of three. In mysystem, however, any number 'of notes can be employed, it beingnecessary only to arrange for such notes as are desired and then employthem, be the number two, four, five, seven, or any other number. What Iclaim as my invention is 1. In musical notation, characters, signs orsymbols individually adapted to designate tones having lengths equal toan even divisional part of a third of a whole tone.

2. As an improvement in musical notation, characters, signs or symbolsindividually adapted to designate tones having lengths equal to an evendivisional part of a third of a Whole tone, in combination withcharacters, signs or symbols adapted to designate halt, quarter, eighthor like tone lengths.

3. As an improvement in musical notation, notes adapted to designatetones having lengths equal to an even divisional part of a third of awhole tone, and comprising notes having heads and stems and providedwith difierent numbers of dots associated with their stems,substantially as described.

4. The improvement in notation, consisting of notes individually adaptedto designate tones having lengths equal to an even divisional part of athird of a whole tone, and constructed with beads and stems and alsowith dots associated with their stems, in combination with notes adaptedto indicate half, quarter, eighth or like tone lengths, and constructedwith heads and stems.

5. As an improvement in musical notation, rests individually adapted todesignate silences having a length equal to an even divisional part of athird of a whole tone.

6. As an improveinentin musical notation, rests adapted to designatesilences, having a duration equal to an even divisional part of a thirdof a whole tone, and comprising dif- 1 ferent numbers of dots associatedtogether, substantially as described.

.7. As an article, a music-score in which are employed characters,symbols or signs, individually adapted to designate tones or rests, orboth, having lengths equal to an even divisional part of a third of awhole tone.

8. As an article, a music-score in which are employed notes or rests, orboth, adapted to designate tone lengths or silences having lengths equalto an even divisional part of a third of a whole tone, and formedsubstantially as described.

9. As an article, a-music-score containing characters adapted todesignate tones or rests, or both, having lengths equal to an evendivisional part of a third of a whole tone, in combination withcharacters adapted to designate tones or rests or both, having lengthsequal to onehalf or an even divisional part thereof, of such whole tone.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 6th day ofDecember, A. D. 1900.

LAURA H. BESWIOK.

Witnesses:

GRACE E. BESWICK, CASSIE L. BUTLER.

